CDC advisory committee recommends avoiding Johnson & Johnson's vaccine if Pfizer or Moderna is available

By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Sara G. Miller -

The scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) recommended this Thursday to avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19 when the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are available.

The panel met following an update from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the risk of very rare but life-threatening blood clots linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

At least 54 people in the United States, mostly women, have been hospitalized for this reason, and nine have died.

The recommendation does not prohibit the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but rather suggests that the other vaccines are better options if available, bearing in mind in any case that vaccination remains the best preventive measure against coronavirus, which is has claimed 80,000 lives in America.